The Peoria Heights Patriots (7-2, 3-0) used a zone defense against the Rushville-Industry Rockets (1-8, 1-2) to pull away early and win, 59-33.

Austin Jones hit his second 3-pointer of the game during the first possession of the second quarter to pull the Rockets within two points, 13-11. Peoria Heights called timeout and adjusted its defense to prevent Jones from doing much more damage.

"We had to go to a (triangle-and-two defense) on (Jones) to guard him or it would have been a long night," Patriots coach Mike Persich said. "We're not a man-to-man team that we want to be and (Jones) exposed that," Persich added.

Chuck Thomas and Tanner Scott coached the Rockets because head coach Mark Darr was serving a one-game suspension after getting two technical fouls resulting in an ejection in last Friday's loss to Elmwood.

"(Peoria Heights) really had control of the game with the triangle-and-two so they really kind of slowed us down on getting shots and had command of the game," Scott said.

The shots were falling for the Patriots during the first two quarters, hitting 7-of-11 shots from the field in the second quarter and made half of their attempts before halftime, converting 11-of-22. The Rockets made just 2-of-15 shots from the field during the first half.

"They shot the ball extremely well and we struggled a bit and it's kind of been the tale of the season so far, but it will turn around," Scott said.

The Patriots finished the game shooting over 52-percent (23-of-44) from the field. Rushville-Industry struggled to get shots to fall, making less than 20-percent (11-of-56) of its attempts from the floor.

Turnovers were limited by both teams during the course of the game. Peoria Heights committed zero turnovers in the first half and ended the game with 11 turnovers.

"That's amazing. No turnovers in a half in a high school game against anybody, anywhere is great," Persich said.

Peoria Heights has had to play without the services of point guard Hank Thomas after the sophomore tore his ACL in October. Thomas averaged 14 points per game for the Patriots last year as a freshman.

Tim Todd stepped up with a solid defensive effort and led the team in scoring with a game-high 16 points.

"(Todd) guarded (Jones) and played a great game because of his defense and he scored some points," Persich said.

Todd made 6-of-10 shots from the field and made a pair of 3-pointers for the Patriots. Ron Willis added 10 points for the winners.

Manning Plater and Austin Gardner scored seven points each for the Rockets, and Carson Isley pitched in six points. The Rockets committed just six turnovers in the game. Mason Plater, who started the Rockets' first four games, is still out with a shoulder injury.

Page 2 of 2 - "(Peoria Heights) is a good team and they are going to win a lot of games this year. We just ran into a good one tonight, but our kids played really hard and never gave up," Scott said.